February 26, 2002	Tuesday	Zilhaj 13, 1422

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PESHAWAR, Feb 25: The Taliban have been driven from power but the use of burqa remains unchanged in Afghanistan, said a burqa seller who came from Kabul here recently.

The impression that burqa use would decrease in Afghanistan once the student militia is out of power, apparently did not hold as Afghan women continue to use it as their dress code despite the fact that Taliban rule have ended over three months back.

There appears to be marginal decrease in the use of burqa as large number of women in Kabul and other urban centres of the war-torn Afghanistan, continue to wear burqa.

Mohammad Zaman Rohani, hailing from Baghlan province of Afghanistan and owner of the burga shop in the city, criticised Western TV channels showing Afghan women putting off their burqas in celebration of Taliban ouster from Kabul. He said: “It is not true. Showing few women without burqas does not mean that all the Afghan women are not in favour of covering their body with burqa.”

In Afghanistan almost 70 per cent women belonging to different ethic groups including Uzbek, Tajik, Pakhtoon, Turkman and Hazara like wearing burqa, while the rest cover themselves with a long cloth veil, he informed.

“During the Taliban rule, the local traders used to bring burqas from Afghanistan due to low cost as compare to the locally made burqa. But after the US attack the trade is halted between the two countries, which has rendered hundreds of burqa-makers in Afghanistan jobless,” he said.

“Most of my customers are Afghan women whose favourite colour are light blue, while the local women mostly belonging to suburb area of the city like white colour burqa,” he said. “Anyone can recognised whether the woman is Afghan or Pakistani owing to their colour choice,” he maintained.

He said about eight meters cloth used in preparing a burqa, adding that embroidery on head-cap and on front cloth is also a must. Carrying a stock of 150 burqas in different colours, Rohani said: “I sell about 150 burqas per month in retail and approximately 500 in whole sale.”